CHAPTER VI. The Lollards. THE quick spreading of the Wycliffite teaching, and the nature of the methods by which it was carried on, are well shown in the preamble of an Act of Parliament passed three years before the death of the venerable reformer, in the fifth year of the reign of Richard the Second (1382), which is as follows :— 66 'Item, forasmuch as it is openly known that there be divers evil persons within this realm, going from county to county, and from town to town, in certain habits under dissimulation of great holiness, and without the licence of the ordinaries of the place, or other sufficient authority, preaching daily not only in church and churchyards, but also in markets, fairs, and other open places, where a great congregation of people is, divers sermons, containing heresies and notorious errors, to the great emblemishing of the Christian faith, and destruction of the law, and of the estate of Holy Church" The act provides a penalty and is in conformity with a prior proclamation to the same effect issued the same year. It is satisfactory to reflect on the vigorous efforts in favour of the truth, indicated F by this violent opposition on the part of the ecclesiastical powers which then virtually ruled the State. One of the tenets of Lollardism condemned at Leicester in 1389 is, that "every layman may preach and teach the Gospel everywhere;" affording a most decisive proof of the genuine earnest character of the revival movement. In time of urgent need all ordinary barriers are overleaped by religious zeal. The poor Lollard was impelled and sustained by faith. in God's word alone. He knew not of the great cloud of witnesses who had trodden the same path before him, nor dreamt of those who should follow him still more numerously, in succeeding ages. He was ignorant of history, and traditions were all against him. He stood alone, save that God was with him, and that he knew right well. If it is true concerning human affections, that "One touch of nature makes the whole world kin," so is it with the divine: one touch of grace unites the whole brotherhood in heaven and on earth. But this blessed association was unknown to the obscure heroes of the early Reformation. They wrought simply and severely for God, and unto Him. "Faith makes man's heart, That dark, low, ruin'd thing, By its rare art, A palace for a king, Higher than proud Babel's tower by many a storey: F. TATE. It has been stated by no mean authority, that Lollardism died entirely out, Wycliffe's labour perished, and the whole pre-Reformation movement became extinct.* This is true only of its political action against Rome, and is not true of its evangelical effects, for the fire was burning unobserved; and, afterwards, when public events necessitated or encouraged a manifestation of personal religious conviction, the foundations laid in Lollardism formed the solid base of the whole structure of English Protestantism. Wycliffe's teaching became, indeed, immediately fruitful; but the pages of history contain but few distinct memorials of its progress. In 1391, William Swinderby, a priest of the diocese of Lincoln, encountered trouble, condemnation, and disgrace for the profession of evangelical doctrines. He submitted to the demands of his ecclesiastical superiors, and, in a qualified way, recanted certain of his opinions; but he still held to those which prove the genuineness of his faith in the Atonement. His appeal to the Parliament is an eloquent, stirring address, full of Scriptural arguments. It opens with the noble prayer: "Jesu, that art both God and man, help Thy people that love Thy law, and make known, through Thy grace, Thy teaching to all Christian men!" He quaintly says, "This land is full of ghostly cowards, in ghostly battle few dare stand." Doubtless, there were many who hid their convictions, and were disciples, though in secret. At the same time, Walter Brute, an educated yeoman of the diocese of Hereford, was finding his way to the enjoyment of spiritual peace through Him who has said * Froude, vol. ii. that He is "the way, the truth, and the life." The cottages and hamlets of his neighbourhood witnessed the evangelic exertions of this predecessor of the lay preachers. His elaborate manifesto of belief, given by Foxe, reflects the confused condition of theology in those times of transition; but there is also displayed the pure light which directed him to "the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world." The most notable of the immediate successors of Wycliffe was Master William Thorpe, whose history, recorded by his own hand, was freely circulated in MS., and ultimately printed by Tyndale. This document affords internal evidence that he had many friends and sympathisers. His examination or trial took place on the 3rd of July, 1407.* On his part he displayed ample accurate Scripture knowledge, combined with manly, sound sense, ready wit, and deep piety. He held fully the whole scheme of evangelical doctrine. For twenty years he had diligently taught it as an itinerant. speaks of many men and women of his acquaintance who "stand in the truth, and are in the way of salvation." We are thus introduced into the secrets of old Lollardism. It was not a political creed, or even social reformation, but something far higher and better in its nature. He The conclusion of Thorpe's account shows the workings of his inner life. "And so then I was led forth and brought into a foul unhonest prison, where I came never before. But, thanked be God, when all men were gone forth then from me, and had barred fast the door after * "State Trials," folio ed., vol. i. them, by and by after, I, therein by myself, busied me to think on God, and to thank him for His goodness. And I was then greatly comforted in all my wits, not only for that I was then delivered for a time from the sight, from the hearing, from the presence, from the scorning, and from the menacing of mine enemies; but much more I rejoiced in the Lord, because that through His grace He kept me so, both among the flattering specially, and among the menacing of mine adversaries, that without heaviness and anguish of conscience I passed away from them. For as a tree laid upon another tree, athwart or across wise, so was the archbishop and his three clerks always contrary to me, and I to them. Now, good God! for Thine holy name, and to the praising of Thy most blessed name, make us one together, if it be Thy will (by authority of Thy Word, that is true perfect love), and else not. And that it may thus be, all that this writing read or hear pray heartily to the Lord God, that He for His great goodness, that cannot be with tongue expressed, grant to us, and to all other which in the same wise, and for the same cause specially, or for any other cause, be at distance, to be knit and made one in true faith, in stedfast hope, and in perfect charity. Amen."* Of him may be said, in the beautiful words of Lord Macaulay, "While the multitude below saw only the flat, sterile desert in which they had so long wandered, bounded on every side by a near horizon, or diversified only by some deceitful mirage, he was gazing from a far higher stand, on a far lovelier country, following with his eye "State Trials,” vol. i. |